Monthly Archives: April 2012

This is a delicious summer side dish. I think the key ingredient is not the herbs, but the mustard. We first made this at the beach and I recall my dad saying that this was the only time he has had beets except for out of a can at Thanksgiving. A lot of people are intimidated by beets, but they are missing out.

I love asparagus season. It is one of my favorite vegetables, but it’s only in season a few months out of the year. Last year the season flew by me and I barely ate any local asparagus. This year I vow to eat as much as I can.

Start with sauteing red onion and garlic, then add sundried tomatoes, then add the rest (except for asparagus and cashews) and cook for 15 minutes.

Lay the asparagus on top, cover again, and cook for 5 more minutes or so. You are supposed to cut up the asparagus into 1 inch pieces, however I overlooked that step and had already washed my knife and cutting board, so I didn’t do it. It would’ve tasted better that way, but oh well, I was tired. (I suggest you follow the recipe directly in the link above.)

And tonight, we discovered a very tasty way to eat it: roasted. Using the bulb, we quartered it, tossed it in a sauce made of garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar, dijon mustard, salt, pepper and nutritional yeast, and roasted it for about 30 minutes at 425. It was sweet, tangy and absolutely delicious.

And using the stalks (minus the fronds, which are the frilly part), I also made a split pea, fennel and leek soup with spinach. A healthy, filling, 13 g. protein with only 2 g. of fat main dish. Both recipes are from the March issue of Vegetarian Times.

My blogging was disrupted a month ago when I left for a 2+ week trip to India for work. Every time I travel for that length of period, it takes me almost just as long to catch up on life again when I get back.

Before I try to get back on a more regular blogging schedule, I’ll share a few shots of some of our meals from the last few weeks.

As a side to that meal, we ate Happy Herbivore’s carrot fries. Again, super easy and healthy. I got this recipe when I purchased one of her $5 meal plans, which I highly recommend for quick, easy, healthy meals. It comes with a shopping list, which is so convenient. I prefer the family plan because recipes are four servings, and instead of making all the lunches, we make the full dinners and eat the leftovers for lunch.

The tofu scramble is our own creation that we throw together in a saute: tofu, green onion, pepper, other vegetables on hand, a bit of oil, nutritional yeast, turmeric, cumin, hot sauce, salt, pepper, occasionally tomatoes, etc.

And finally, as a result of cleaning out the fridge/pantry (and my husband’s creativity): a cold salad mix of orzo, red quinoa, chickpeas, kale, red pepper, dried cranberries, red onion and a sauce of probably olive oil, vinegar, lemon mix (but honestly I don’t remember, he just threw it together and this was weeks ago).

Coming up (if I can stick with this blogging thing…): spring and summer meals using fresh fruits and vegetables. This is favorite time of year to cook!